Former Senator, Shehu Sani has voiced his disapproval of the Enugu State government’s decision to impose a mortuary tax on corpses, humorously suggesting that this policy means “people can no longer rest in peace.”
Sani made this remark in a post on the X platform (formerly Twitter) using his handle @ShehuSani on Sunday, while reacting to the recent announcement by the Enugu State Internal Revenue Service (ESIRS).
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According to the state’s revenue agency, a sum of N40 is to be charged as mortuary tax for every day a corpse remains unburied beyond 24 hours.
Sani’s post read, “Taxing dead bodies in Enugu finally means people can no longer rest in peace.”
DAILY GAZETTE recalls that the Enugu State government had clarified the rationale behind the controversial tax, stressing that it was not intended as a revenue-generation strategy but rather to curb the prolonged storage of bodies in mortuaries.
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The Executive Chairman of ESIRS, Mr. Emmanuel Nnamani, explained that the tax was implemented in accordance with Section 34 of the Births, Deaths, and Burials Law Cap 15, Revised Laws of Enugu State, 2004.
He confirmed that the sum of N40 would be levied per corpse for each day it remains unburied after the first 24 hours.
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The payments are to be made by the families of the deceased before retrieving the bodies for burial, with the funds to be remitted to the state’s Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) account.
The circular, addressed to mortuary attendants, instructed them to ensure compliance with the new tax policy and to remit the collected payments to the ESIRS through any commercial bank in the state.
